In Mammon Among Friends, Malcolm C. Harris, Sr. provides commentary and news about the national economy, the Wichita economy, the world of finance, and postal economics. Experiences such as forecasting postal volumes and revenues, being involved in utility regulation, and teaching corporate finance have shaped his analysis.

I find it hard to believe Alan Mallay would have said that. "Witch-hunt" does not sound like a word in his vocabulary. In American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, Mullay's biographer, Bryce G. Hoffman, describes how he used the same techniques to turn Ford around that he used in managing projects like the 777. He built teams with his weekly "war room" meetings that thrived on a culture of both trust and accountability. Hard bitten, cynical Detroit executives took his "aw shucks" Midwestern manners for weakness. That did not last long. Those veterans of cutthroat corporate politics soon learned to either cooperate and be up front or play their political games somewhere else.It would be interesting to learn how McNerney's management style differs from Mullay's. It would be interesting to learn which style works better across the teams of engineers and managers from Boeing and its suppliers.

Hiring McNerney from the outside was forced on Boeing by the Department of Defense after successive scandals. Military work is the other half of Boeing's business. Such government induced changes in management can have unforeseen consequences. Think of AIG after New York State's Eliot Spitzer forced Maurice R. Greenberg out in 2005. It is hard to imagine Greenberg letting his trading desk get as out of hand as his successor did. The subsequent near collapse of AIG and its bailout are now history. In this video from January 24th, Ostrower
tells the Journal why both McNerney and Mulally have much at stake:

Spirit, as a big supplier of the Deamliner, is of course vulnerable to the plane's troubles. we here in Wichita hope for a speedy resolution.